Renting vs Buying a Home: What NOBODY Is Telling You

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BUYING VS RENTING A HOME IN 2024:

-Down Payment
In most situations, lenders will require you to put down 10-20% of the purchase price to get approved.

-Mortgage Interest Rate
Today, that cost is the highest in more than 20 years, at just over 7%.

-Potential PMI
This stands for “private mortgage insurance,” and it’s an extra cost - on top of your interest rate - that you pay to protect the lender in the event you stop making your payments.

-Property Taxes
This is generally based on a percentage of the home’s appraised value, adjusted annually.

-Insurance
According to Bankrate, the average home insurance costs $1428 per year for a $250,000 home - but, when 66% of homes are said to be UNDERINSURED - expect to pay more like $2200 for a proper policy (on average).

-Repairs and Maintenance
Over the long term, it’s recommended that you budget 1-2% of the property’s value, every year, for doing normal repairs.

Home Appreciation:
Even though home values have generally increased every year, most of that increase is simply the result of inflation - and, once you adjust for this - you’ll be able to see that home prices stayed relatively flat for nearly 100 years, and didn’t meaningfully start to rise until 2001, when interest rates began to decline and improve home affordability.

WHEN RENTING IS 'BETTER'

-If you don’t intend to stay in your home longer than at least 10-13 years.
That’s because you won’t need to come out of pocket for closing costs, escrow charges, commissions, and many other miscellaneous charges that quickly begin to add up.

-If you can make a higher return from your down payment.
For example, if you’re running a business - where, tying up $40,000 results in a lot less income - that could be a case against buying.

-If you believe the market is going down or will stay flat.
This means you'll have a larger opportunity cost for tying up capital, paying for repairs, and being tied to one property.

-If you want very little responsibility or upfront cost.
Outside of fixing items that you directly damage, the landlord will be responsible for all property tax and insurance increases, all major repairs, and anything else that goes “wrong” with the home.

-If you value flexibility.
With renting, you can leave as soon as your agreement is over. You can upgrade as much - or as little - as you want.

WHEN BUYING IS BETTER:

-Long term, over 20+ years, owning still tends to be the better choice.
Over a long period of time, housing has been shown to be a rather resilient investment - so, the longer you wait - the more likely you are to come out ahead.

-Locking in your monthly cost until your home is paid off.
Now, even though property taxes, insurance rates, and repairs can fluctuate and will likely continue going higher, your fixed monthly costs will remain the same throughout the duration of ownership.

-The psychological benefit that it's "yours."
There’s a sense of freedom that comes along with owning your home, being able to do whatever you’d like with it, and not being at the beck and call of a landlord.

TL;DR
There is something to be said about the fact that a mortgage forces you to save through your monthly payments. For many people, extra money is spent - not saved - and, under those circumstances, buying a home is a way to build equity.

But, unless you’re certain you want to be tied down to a single property, long enough to save money - short term, renting and investing the difference could lead to a better outcome.

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*Some of the links and other products that appear on this video are from companies which Graham Stephan will earn an affiliate commission or referral bonus. Graham Stephan is part of an affiliate network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites. The content in this video is accurate as of the posting date. Some of the offers mentioned may no longer be available. This is not investment advice.